Two books of the Bible keep resonating in my heart. Now the odd thing is, that at first appearance they are complete opposites. They are Song of Songs and Hosea. One is about the wonderful love affair between a groom and his bride. The other is about a prophet who is told by God to marry a prostitute and love her.
You ask me, "Why??"
Because, both books are about God's pursuit of us.
In Song of Songs, He is the groom passionately pursuing His bride, the church who is passionately loving Him back. And as you know, we are the church - any believer who has been justified by the blood and is living a sanctified life. Please note: if you have been justified, you are sanctified no matter where you are in your walk - walking in wonder and Praise of your Lord and Savior or you may just be skipping down the wrong path at this moment.
If skipping is where you are, then this brings us to second book, Hosea. In this book, God is pursuing the unfaithful wife who is worshiping idols. In other words, anyone who has turned their backs on Him and doing their own thing. In the book of Hosea, God instructs Hosea to marry a common prostitute and have children with her. This woman knew nothing about love, but Hosea loves her. This story is a lived out parable of how God loves each of us, at our worst in the midst of the stink of our bad choices and lifestyles. How He takes us even in the midst of this and teaches us little by little how to really love.
In the society in which we live, we have cheapened the word LOVE. I hear people say (me included), "I love ...peanut butter, Chihuahuas, The Saints, The Colts, chocolate, my turtle, my car, my whatever - you get the point! We use it indiscriminately to describe a powerful LIKE for anything that makes us feel good. No wonder we have problems understanding when God says things like, "I have LOVED you with an everlasting Love. I have drawn you with loving-kindness."
I am not anti-Valentines Day. I really like (I almost said love) receiving candy and flowers and stuff when the budget will allow. I do like the way we have a reason, commercial that it may be, to bestow gifts on the people we love (appropriate here) and care about.
This Valentines Day, really look at what real Love is. A Love so amazing, so absolutely divine that He would sacrifice His life His all for everyone of us. He, God, Loves us. He loves you, He loves me, He loves us. Let that resonate in your heart and soul.
So, whether you are passionately pursing a love relationship with God as His bride or you are skipping down red light district doing your own thing - know this...God loves YOU! Where you are. He loves you!
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